EFI and spares

[CDMBill]

I thought about posting this in the Drag Week section but the question is a bit broader.

I've seen a few folks mention having spare injectors. I don't. I also don't have spare coils or a spare EMS. I have a spare coil igniter box that's it.

I'm begining to wonder if I should. As I look at moving to a set of IGN1-A's to go with the MS3X box I have to consider spares, not to mention what happens if they disappear altogether. The injectors i'm running cost close to $100 each, the coils similar, the EMS quite a bit more. I haven't had any of these things fail in 5 years. What is the realistic useful life of these compnents?

What are you doing about spares for EFI components when the system has gone past low price OEM or easy to find JY parts?

[JeffMcKC]

Geek has a had a box for us each year and I have a coil and crank trigger, we now carry A spare injector . I have carried a spare fuel reg kit also and spare A1000 I picked up used.

[dieselgeek]

I always send a spare MS-1, and EMS-pro on drag week with someone - either Jeff, Doc, Huber, maybe Jay Brown (He carries his own spares). So far since DW2005 nobody's ever needed a spare of these except Jeff who had a mishap with an injector.

MS3 it would be, IMO, a good idea to have someone carry a spare at the event because those aren't as "hardened" as an EMS-pro. One guy's MS3x dropped a screw and shorted out the board, 200 miles from nowhere, last year on DW. He was on the trailer as a result. On Doc's MS3x, I disassembled it and used loc-tite on all the screws that hold components to the heatsink.

[TheSilverBuick]

MS3 it would be, IMO, a good idea to have someone carry a spare at the event because those aren't as "hardened" as an EMS-pro. One guy's MS3x dropped a screw and shorted out the board, 200 miles from nowhere, last year on DW. He was on the trailer as a result. On Doc's MS3x, I disassembled it and used loc-tite on all the screws that hold components to the heatsink.

I wondered what the issue was on that car after watching Kyle's video. Interesting. When I pop mine out for the MSIII upgrade perhaps I'll dab some loctite on them.

I brought a spare electric fuel pump (my junkyard one), then a 4-pin HEI distributor incase any part of the system crapped out I could borrow/buy a square bore carb to get the car running since I'm still running a stock Stage1 mechanical fuel pump.

My backup for crank trigger failure (road debris, comes loose and hits trigger wheel, etc) was the HEI pickup coil, would just have to plug it back in. But this year the pickup coil will be modified for sequential and only have one tooth, so that same backup 4-pin HEI will be on the trip and if the crank trigger goes, I'll pop that 4-pin HEI in minus the module. I'll bring my lower rated injectors with me this year as backup, and if I use them possibly use the MSIII to bump the fueling on just the cylinder replaced to account for the smaller size?

I think the MSD box is my current weak link, but if I can borrow or buy one along the way I'd be good to go.

[dieselgeek]

Look on the bright side, all of you are running TPS, CLT, IAT, and MAP sensors that can be replaced at any parts store. Probably more likely you can find your repair parts than the guys running carburetors.

[CDMBill]

I'll have to do the lock-tite trick too for the MS3. I forgot to mention I have carried the spare A-1000 and a set of sensors and an extra LS1 crank sensor. Repair parts for the regulator makes sense. I even brought a spare USB cable but no extra laptop.

I suppose I need to spring for a couple injectors and buy nine coils when that happens. I knew there was an EMS-pro or two floating around at DW but I'm also looking at this question generally for going to other rcae events, Anit-tour what have you.

While I'm sure there plenty of folks on the Megasquirt boards that have gone lots of miles I think Randall has driven more than anybody else I know personally. Any feedback on parts wear or useful life Randall?

After my MSD alternator experience last year I'm trying move away from super trick one-off electronic parts. The longevity of the OEM stuff I figure to be within their Federal emmssions warranty requirement which is 100,000 miles IIRC. The EFI stuff has been so reliable I don't worry about it any more but I like to be prepared.

[TheSilverBuick]

On approximately 40,000 miles I've dusted one LC-1 WBO2 controller, that's it, and I don't use the WBO2 AFR corrections so it didn't effect the running of the car at all. Towed my POS trailer to Bonneville, and made a trip to CA during the two months I waited to replace it since the tune and barocorrections were good. I upgraded the injectors when I upgraded to aluminum heads and a roller cam. I replaced the junkyard fuel pump ahead of Drag Week just for piece of mind (and it's now backup). I bought a new air temp sensor once when I was getting funky readings, but it turned out to be my shoddy wiring.

I did get a scare in Phoenix last weekend though. I hosed off my engine bay and dirt or something on the relay board wigged out and my TPS signal was going haywire (super easy troubleshooting with the laptop!). So I switched to a MAP accel enrichment and ignored the TPS all together for a about 15 minutes when it must of dried out and the signal went back to being rock steady, at which point I turned off the MAP accel enrichment and went back to the TPS. I'm going to be re-doing the EFI wiring harness on the car here shortly (eliminate a bunch of wire crimps for solder joints and shrink tubing and make a quick connect for the harness to the relay board) and I'll probably take Brake or electrical cleaner to the relay board, top and bottom. It's got a bit of crud built up on it (and probably copper bearing crud given my work environment and driving it to work).

Obviously I don't fear driving it anywhere. There's about 100 mile stretch between Ely and anywhere with zero cell reception, and that doesn't bother me.

[JeffMcKC]

Your my Hero! It takes Nads of Steel to just take off, I need to build something a little more forgiving to plug in mine like the Old Mule motor was.

[TheSilverBuick]

If I leave town, it's guaranteed 500 miles. If I go to California (my usual out of town destination), it's guaranteed a minimum of 1,000 miles. In both cases an extra hundred or so miles can easily be added each trip. May's have been, and Septembers now, are usually 4,000 miles months each.

[CDMBill]

Now that's driving! My daily driver '03 F150 only has 39K on it, the benefit of not having a commute I suppose. I guess I'm lucky on that. It'll take me eight years to put 40,000 on the MUstang at my recent rate. So while I should relax I'll still get some additional spares.

[Matt Cramer]

I always send a spare MS-1, and EMS-pro on drag week with someone - either Jeff, Doc, Huber, maybe Jay Brown (He carries his own spares). So far since DW2005 nobody's ever needed a spare of these except Jeff who had a mishap with an injector.

MS3 it would be, IMO, a good idea to have someone carry a spare at the event because those aren't as "hardened" as an EMS-pro. One guy's MS3x dropped a screw and shorted out the board, 200 miles from nowhere, last year on DW. He was on the trailer as a result. On Doc's MS3x, I disassembled it and used loc-tite on all the screws that hold components to the heatsink.

That one was an early production one - ever since we got it back and saw what happened, we've been using Loc-Tite on the screws as well when we build them.

Our experience is that most ECU failures seem to happen very soon into the lifetime of the ECU; you're more likely to have a problem with an initial defect than a component wearing out. Coils and injectors are subject to a bit more wear though.

[BBR]

I had the main chip fall out of the MS in the Ranger due to the tremendous wheel hop. I used a block of dense foam between it and the lid to hold it in place.

[STINEY]

I had the main chip fall out of the MS in the Ranger due to the tremendous wheel hop. I used a block of dense foam between it and the lid to hold it in place.

Holy bouncing big-blocks Batman! Now THAT is some wheel-hop!